Denker, Barber, Girls and US Open Heading to Indy, Committees and Delegates Meet to Set Course of US Chess

Thanks to winning their respective Illinois invitational tournaments in May, soon-to-be IMSA Junior George Li will be representing the Land of Lincoln at the National Denker tournament kicking off this weekend in Indianapolis. Soon to be high-schooler Vincent Do represents Illinois in the Barber while Miranda Liu will be Illinois' representative in the National Girls event. Other Illinoisians will be representing the state in the US Open starting next week.

Others will be doing their representation away from the chess boards in meeting rooms as a series of Workshops and the Annual US Chess Board of Delegates meeting takes place August 3 through 7 at the Indianapolis Marriott East.

While some motions may come out of committee discussions, many topics have already been circulated in the "Advance Agenda" for the meeting, taking place August 6 and 7. Folks wishing to express their viewpoint to the delegate committee are encouraged to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Tim Just has once again offered to serve as the chief of the Illinois delegation.

Among the potential considerations are:

• a recommendation to evaluate and grade the various brands and models of chess clocks which are commonly used in tournaments
  
  
• providing funding to the state chapter affiliates based on the number of US Chess members -- $2 for every adult and $1 for every Life, Young Adult, Youth, Scholastic or paid Family member
  
  
• a recommendation to "encourage" any tournament which is broadcasting player games to the Internet to place a delay of several moves or perhaps 10 minutes in order to discourage cheating
  
  
• the possibility of waiving USCF membership requirements for sections with time controls of 11 to 29 minutes (quick rated)
  
  
• phased elimination of FIDE arbiter licenses for Club and Local TD's (US Chess rules provide that certifications must be at Senior or above to hold FIDE credentials)
  
  
• numerous scholastic tournament recommendations including one which replaces the policy of answering "is this checkmate" with something more educational than a simple "yes" or "no" answer
  
  
• an encouragement to explore alternate locations to the Opryland Resort in Nashville once the current contractual obligations have been fulfilled
  
  
• directing the Executive Board of US Chess to negotiate so that the Robert Fischer Archives might go to the US Chess Hall of Fame, avoiding a Sotheby's auction of the items currently owned by the Marshall Chess Club

If you have interest in serving as a delegate to these meetings in future years, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..